The Last of Us - The Cure
by bloodedge18
Summary: This is an alternative ending to the Last of is idea came about to me when during the running scene at the end of the game and my friend got caught by the soldiers. At the time I thought that was the end of the game but luckily it wasn't. Still It got me thinking and this is what I came up with. What would happen if Joel and Ellie's journey had ended in a different way?


Joel burst into the operating room, pistol in hand. He saw Ellie lying on the operating table with three surgeons gathered around her. One was applying an anaesthetic mask to her face, her eyes were beginning to shut but not before she made bleary eye contact with Joel.

"Sweet Jesus..." Joel whispered under his breath.

"What are you doing in here?" The doctors all jumped back from the table, one grabbed a scalpel and held it up in front of him.

"I won't let you take her. This is our future. Think of all the lives we'll save."

Joel started to walk towards the operating table, completely oblivious to the Doctor's warning. The Doctor took a swipe at Joel.

"Don't come any closer!"

No sooner had the word's left the Doctor's mouth than Joel shot him point blank in the head, blood and brain splattering all over the wall behind him.

"No! You fucking animal" One of the other Doctors cried, getting ready to rush to her dead colleagues side, however, the look that Joel threw her froze her to the spot. There was no mercy in that stare.

Joel continued to the table where Ellie was and he proceeded to remove the mask that was beginning to anesthetise her. She stared up at him still bleary eyed.

"Come on baby girl, I gotcha..." Joel gently lifted Ellie up into his arms, her body feeling limp and frail in his arms, a stark contrast to the fiery bold personality that Joel knew so well.

"Jo..hmmm...? What..."Ellie mumbled.

"He's in there!" A voice yelled out, flashlights waving like searchlights outside the operating room door.

"Oh shit!" Joel said through gritted teeth, rushing towards the other door of the operating room, barging it open with his shoulder. He felt a pair of small arms reach up and tenderly hang around his neck.

"Joel... fire...hmm...flies..." Ellie was slightly more conscious but still was mumbling her sentences.

"Get back!" The sound of boots sprung up behind Joel in the operating room.

Panic clawing away at him, Joel started to run.

"He's carrying her towards paediatrics, get up here! Now!"

Joel sprinted down the corridors as fast as he could, blindly rushing through the maze of the building, twisting and turning, merely trying to put as much distance between himself and the voices behind him. He saw a door. Frantically, he attempted to kick it down, but it was locked, leading him to a dead end.

"Shit." Joel's heart was racing as he looked around wildly for an alternative exit. Two doors were behind him and the right one was slightly ajar.

"He's over here!"

He made a dash for it, the voices and flashlights drawing ever closer.

"Come on man, we just want the girl."

Joel flung the door open with his foot and sprinted through the room.

"Me...?" Ellie asked.

"I'm getting you outta here girl." Joel assured her, holding her closer to him, almost instinctively her arms tightened slightly around him.

Bursting through the door of the room, he ended up in a hallway with lights flashing at one end of it, blinding him. Rushing towards them he heard the shouting drawing ever closer behind him.

"Joel..."

"I got you. I got you." Joel whispered to her between pants of breath.

"Cover the exits!" Joel heard the sound of boots coming from in front of him, as he turned the corner, he saw a group of three men at the end of the hall all armed with assault rifles.

"Stop!"

A door to the right was ajar. Joel ducked into it immediately as the men at the end of the hallway opened fire, he followed the corridor around until he came out to a junction he had already been to before. Voices and the sound of boots surrounded him.

"Goddammit! Which way?" his heart pounding and his arms shaking, he stared blankly at the four entranceways open to him unable to work out where to go.

Suddenly, he saw men appear down the end of the corridor opposite him. As they raised their guns, Joel hurtled down the left corridor, a few bullets whizzing past him. A fire exit sprang up just to his right, ducking under the stray bullets hurtling towards where his head was, Joel ran through the door and slammed it shut behind him, locking it. Without hesitation he started running down the stairs in front of him.

"Why... they shooting at us...?" Ellie asked, slight confusion and fear in her voice.

"We're okay. We're okay... We're okay." Joel gently whispered to her, his breathing however, becoming ever more frantic and ragged with each breath. The sound of the door breaking open above him installed some primal fear within him and it spurred him on.

Getting to the bottom of the stairs Joel kicked the door open to a long straight hallway with a lift at the end of it. There was nowhere else to go. His heart getting ready to explode out of his chest, Joel started down the corridor. Flashlights were roving everywhere, in front of him, behind him and in the windows of the hallway.

"This is your last chance! Drop her now!" A voice called out behind him.

Joel kept running.

"I've got him in my sights!"

He was about halfway down the corridor.

"Open fire!"

Bullets started flying around Joel, he clutched Ellie as tightly to him as possible.

"Joel?"

Joel looked down at the girl in his arms and saw the sheer fear in her eyes, far greater than any runner, clicker or bloater could ever create. She was absolutely terrified. Her arms clung as tightly around his neck. He would get her out of here; he would see that fear leave her eyes, no matter the cost. Joel accelerated, the last of his will pushing him on towards the exit.

Suddenly, Joel felt a searing pain in his leg as two bullets passed through his thigh. He staggered and let out a yell as he almost fell to the ground.

"Joel!" Ellie screamed.

Joel clutched Ellie tightly, a little too tightly and he could feel her wince in his hands. The adrenaline pumping violently through his veins he continued to run through the hail of bullets toward the elevator. Ellie held her head to his chest, her little hands gripping Joel like iron.

"We'll get out of here baby girl... I promise!" his voice shaky and heavy.

Three more flashes of pain went up Joel's right arm as three more bullets passed through him. Letting out one more scream of agony he violently staggered once again, squashing Ellie as small as he could against him to protect her. His vision had become hazy; his legs shook and his body strained to keep himself and Ellie upright. He could focus on nothing but the light at the end of the hallway and the panicked breathing of the small girl clutched to his chest. The elevator door was not more than a hundred meters in front of him, through the pain he kept blundering towards it.

"C'mon, c'mon..." He muttered through gritted teeth.

Suddenly a couple more bullets passed through his other leg and through his shoulder. His legs buckled underneath him and he crashed to the ground.

"JOEL!?" Ellie screamed again, shaking Joel, who was lying on the ground.

"No... no, no ,no no, no!" She pulled at him, the sound of boots getting ever closer. She turned towards the running boots. "This... this isn't what I wanted!"

She turned back towards him.

Joel stared into the eyes of the girl who was crouching over him; he could see the fiery glow that he was used to behind the fear, however faint.

She was not going to die, not here, not in this place; she was going to have a life, the life she had never had the opportunity to live. She was going to grow old and have so many new experiences like seeing those giraffes on the way into this place. He was going to teach her how to swim; she was going to learn how to play the guitar. And he would sing along round one of the many camp-fires they would soon again build before going off the sleep under the stars. He owed her that. To hell with humanity! Even if they got the cure, there would just be more fighting, more bloodshed. Other factions would try to acquire the cure by force as soon as word got out about its creation and the brave little girl's sacrifice would mean nothing. Mankind would have the cure but humanity would continue to destroy as it always has. It wouldn't have been the future she had wanted...

With one last almighty roar Joel staggered up onto his feet, wobbling, he caught himself and scooped Ellie up one last time and started to stager toward the elevator, dragging one of his legs behind him.

"Joel?" Ellie's voice was scared.

"We are... survivors... Ellie... right?

Ellie started at him for a moment, then she nodded quickly. "Always."

"Then... we will... survive!"Joel gasped out, spitting out blood as he did so. For a brief second, Ellie's eyes widened, and she raised her arms around his neck again and clung on.

Bullets started to roar past Joel and Ellie again, but the elevator was within reaching distance.

Suddenly, a burst of fire came from his left. With a burst of blood Joel's knees buckled and he crashed to the floor. A group of fireflies had run down the end of the corridor on his left, which he hadn't seen on the way to the elevator. Two men came a grabbed onto Ellie's arms.

"NO! JOEL!"

She struggled against their grip and tried her best to bite at the men's hands, but their thick gloves rendered most of her efforts useless. Joel grabbed onto her hands with the little strength he had left.

"No... Let go of her... you bastards! Let... let her go!" he struggled a losing fight with the two soldiers, then suddenly he was knocked to the ground from a blow to the back of his head from a rifle, a boot stood on his chest pinning him to the ground. Ellie's warm hands slipped out of his grasp.

"No, let me go! What are you doing to him!?"

Joel began to desperately reach out his shaking, bloodied hand out to Ellie who he saw being forcefully dragged away from him, their eyes met one last time as she was dragged down the hallway; tears welled up in both their eyes.

"Baby girl..."

She stared back, pleading, begging with him.

"Ellie!" He roared.

A burst of one last round of assault rifle fire sounded throughout the room.

"Joel...?" Her voice trembled, only slightly.

The firefly removed his boot from Joel's still chest. Blood was leaking out from under him, slowly running toward his right arm, which was still outstretched. But it lay lifeless on the floor in front of him.

Ellie stared in disbelief. The Firefly took his communicator and spoke: "Target has been neutralised, returning the cure."

As he put his communicator back onto his belt, Ellie shook her head.

"JOEL!"

She let out a blood curdling scream as she was dragged down the hallway. She struggled in vain against the grip of the men who had her, but it was no-use. She was too weakened from the anaesthetic and they were too strong, all she could do was watch her best friend's body disappear out of sight, as she was dragged round the corner of the hallway, screaming, and flailing.

Still struggling, she was hoisted onto the operating table and pinned down, blinded by the lights above her she wriggled and squirmed but to no avail.

"You Bastards! Let me go!"

She could see the mask out the corner of her eye and it was being brought closer to her face but she couldn't make out who was holding it.

"No! I don't want to help you fuckers anymore!" she raised one last once of strength in her body and pushed with all her might against the hands restraining her.

But nothing happened.

Suddenly, she heard a sob from above her.

Squinting, she could see a woman holding her hand to her face, and she was the one holding the mask.

"Kid... don't make this any harder than it is..."

She recognised that voice. She stopped struggling.

"Marlene...?"

The crowd of shadows moved back slightly and let her see the figure more clearly. Marlene's eyes were filled with tears, staring back at her.

"Marlene? What..." Ellie stared back confused.

"Keep a grip on her, make sure she can't escape." Marlene suddenly ordered.

It slowly dawned on Ellie what was going on. She tried to speak, but the words stopped in her throat. This time only tears escaped her eyes. Marlene stared back, just as tearful. "He was going to take you away, we couldn't let him..."

"Marlene... You... killed him..." Ellie choked out.

"He wouldn't co-operate..."

"He didn't have to die!"

"He was willing to risk the cure for humanity for his own selfish drives!" Marlene's angry tone silenced Ellie.

There was an eternal pause.

Marlene then began to raise the mask towards her again.

Ellie lay, lifeless. Her best friend was dead. Her guardian had killed him and was about to kill her too. All fire left her body, the tears streamed down her face but no sound came out her mouth. In the end, no one was left. Everybody she came into contact with abandoned her or died. The last of the people she depended on had failed her. She looked up at the woman who had extinguished her last hope in this world, and made her choice for her. She closed her eyes, her body shaking with despair as she wept silently on the table. She was all alone and always had been. She finally saw the world for what it was. No one wanted Ellie the kid. No-one. All they had wanted was the cure.

All except one man.

She felt the mask embrace her nose and mouth, this time she did not resist. Mankind could have their cure. There was nothing and no-one left for her in this world now. At least she could provide one little bit of good in her cursed life...

Her tear stained face fell still as her consciousness faded, never to return.


End file.
